Quality over quantity: 10 ways to improve your quality of life now.

First published 3/17/2018 on Wordpress

A patient said to me today as we were discussing her cancer diagnosis - "I can only control the quality of my life not the quantity..."

Wow! How true! How profound!

This got me thinking. We all live on borrowed time and no one knows what's coming. We could get hit by a bus on the way home. We could be diagnosed with a fatal illness. Our lives are so fragile and tenuous yet a lot of us take it for granted. We spend so much time obsessing over things that are not important.

If you died right now, what would your legacy be? What would be said about you? Have you lead your best life? Have you led a quality life?

What are the ways we could improve the quality of our life right now. These are 10 of my suggestions

1-Take care of your body. Remember this body will last you for as long as you are here, so take care of it.

*eat healthy

*exercise

2-Be friendly and Love unconditionally. It takes so much energy to hate and to frown. Smile and spread the joy.

*hug your kids/spouse

*tell your family you love them often

*smile and say hi to the neighbors, co workers

3-Be a good friend. Call and catch up with friends from time to time

4-Do something nice for someone less fortunate. We are all in this together. You may be the one who needs help some day.

*volunteer

*make a donation

5-Don't over commit. It's okay to say no from time to time. Stress does not look good on anyone

6-Don't leave things half done. You are better off not starting than doing it half assed

7-Don't procrastinate. You may not get another chance

8-Do something nice for yourself. When you feel good, it's so much easier to make everyone else feel good.

*get a massage

*manicure/pedicure

*take a trip

*watch a movie

*read a book

9- Believe in something. I really don't want to talk religion but a belief in something, someone will get us through the darkest times.

10-Be an overall good person. I don't care what God you believe in but the 10 commandments pretty much cover the basics of being a good person.

If you can do these things, I believe that you are well on the way to having a great quality of life and it may even help with the quantity.

What did I miss?

Please let me know other ways to improve the quality of our lives in the comments.